hello,
i will get straight to the point here,
I'm trying to get better at music creation, but i dont quite know how to improve my skills
that's why will ask you: do you know how i could improve

the reason why I'm posting this here is because if i post it on my own page it will get no response, here i have a better way to get useful information
so if this is NOT allowed please send me a PM, and then i know what to not do then

Post your music in the Review Request Club and the Audio Advertisement Thread so the chance of getting constructive critisism is higher, and then use that critisism to improve your production skills.
Also, trial and error. Try to do some new stuff, fiddle around with some knobs and faders here and there to see if it improves your sound. If it doesn't, try something else or watch some tutorials.

Get the article right for starters, it's actually la musique.
In all seriousness though, just keep practicing. Learn what all the knobs do in your DAW, and don't be afraid to experiment! All great artists have made shit songs before and started out just like you did.

If you told us in what kind of music you are aiming at and at what point you are it would help

It is House/Dance :)
i want to improve everything, melodies, beats, effects... Let's just say i want to be as good as For Example

F-777
Envy
Rainwave

And so on

_________________

At 10/2/12 12:37 PM, LiquidOoze wrote:
Post your music in the Review Request Club and the Audio Advertisement Thread so the chance of getting constructive critisism is higher, and then use that critisism to improve your production skills.
Also, trial and error. Try to do some new stuff, fiddle around with some knobs and faders here and there to see if it improves your sound. If it doesn't, try something else or watch some tutorials.

Thanks :) I shall do that :)
_________________

At 10/2/12 12:42 PM, Syztm wrote:
Get the article right for starters, it's actually la musique.
In all seriousness though, just keep practicing. Learn what all the knobs do in your DAW, and don't be afraid to experiment! All great artists have made shit songs before and started out just like you did.

Listen to lots of music - broaden your tastes even.
Practice.
Try to recreate different melodies, basslines, and effects you hear - especially the ones you like - so you can better understand how your intruments work and how to better use them.
Practice.
Try to fuse different genres together, throw the results on the wall, and see what sticks.
Practice.
If you doubt something will work, do it anyway and try to prove yourself wrong.
...
...

Also to add to all that has already been said, PRODUCTION.
People do not understand the value of high quality sound until they start getting noticed for that actual reason.

By this I mean learn to produce music as if you had a studio (or at least as best as you can) - Lean how to use EQ correctly - where everything sits in a mix (kick drum vs bass, room acoustics, clarity VS muddy). Learn about when and how to use reverb effectively and the kinds of reverb that are available to you - which one to use and when. Research what phase is and how to avoid/use it. Look into effective use of the stereo field (part 1: panning!).. This and so much more.
Composition will take you 3 years to begin to get comfortable with. Production will take you at least as long (both cases are considering you spend at least an hour a day doing them, or researching).

Rocker, Composer and World Ambassador for Foxes! I'm on Youtube. Veteran REAPER user. Click below for the song that got me 2nd place. :)

At 10/2/12 02:23 PM, MetalRenard wrote:
Also to add to all that has already been said, PRODUCTION.
People do not understand the value of high quality sound until they start getting noticed for that actual reason.

By this I mean learn to produce music as if you had a studio (or at least as best as you can) - Lean how to use EQ correctly - where everything sits in a mix (kick drum vs bass, room acoustics, clarity VS muddy). Learn about when and how to use reverb effectively and the kinds of reverb that are available to you - which one to use and when. Research what phase is and how to avoid/use it. Look into effective use of the stereo field (part 1: panning!).. This and so much more.
Composition will take you 3 years to begin to get comfortable with. Production will take you at least as long (both cases are considering you spend at least an hour a day doing them, or researching).

I think this part comes after a long time experimenting with music itself (harmony, relationship between notes, how to get a nice bassline, etc). The one you said is the final part.

At 10/2/12 02:23 PM, MetalRenard wrote:
Also to add to all that has already been said, PRODUCTION.

I think this part comes after a long time experimenting with music itself (harmony, relationship between notes, how to get a nice bassline, etc). The one you said is the final part.

Correct me if I'm wrong

No, I concur. Much of the reason why I've come so far is because of composition technique. I am still learning production, but once that is fine-tuned, I shall be on my way.

Granted, these things don't come instantaneously. But one only needs to compare, say, my first submission, with my more recent submissions, and hear the stark difference in production quality. I'm sure the same can be said for lots of people out here who started as I did.

It's natural for one to learn how to compose before they learn to produce music, my point is that you should not forget that most of what people think is "good music" is simply "good production". When you ask Average Joe, I mean.

Rocker, Composer and World Ambassador for Foxes! I'm on Youtube. Veteran REAPER user. Click below for the song that got me 2nd place. :)

At 10/2/12 04:05 PM, MetalRenard wrote:
It's natural for one to learn how to compose before they learn to produce music, my point is that you should not forget that most of what people think is "good music" is simply "good production". When you ask Average Joe, I mean.

Yeah of course. Good music is a good mix between everything that makes up a music: harmony, melodies, feel, the quality of the sounds, etc.

Thanks Metal Renard (I read another thing the first time I did it, lol).

i will get straight to the point here,
I'm trying to get better at music creation, but i dont quite know how to improve my skills
that's why will ask you: do you know how i could improve

If you don't already play an instrument I suggest learning one, like guitar. It will help you broaden your perspective and see the notes and melodies in a new way. Also, watching videos on youtube helped me as well. Learn some basic musical theory, and look up some production tips and tricks is also a step in the right direction :)

Getting better at music production really boils down to nothing more than a ton of effort and time put into it.

Learning music theory, trying out new vst's or FX chains; it's all just another way of experimentation and getting to know your tools. I spent years wishing 'I was as good as that guy', but I'm here to tell you that any one of us is <most likely> just as creative as the next person.

You wanna be good? You wanna be great? The only way you're NOT gonna get there, is quitting.

So enjoy the ride. You'll find yourself 'one-upping' your own work over time and it'll feel fantastic. :-)

At 10/2/12 02:27 PM, Lachi wrote:
I think this part comes after a long time experimenting with music itself (harmony, relationship between notes, how to get a nice bassline, etc). The one you said is the final part.

Correct me if I'm wrong

Different approaches with different results, none is superior but one might work better for you than the other. Your first musical endeavours will probably be terrible on account of your not being Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart so when you begin cooking your own music it's up to you whether you want to focus on improving your composition first (leading to a period of interesting but terrible sounding music) or improving your production first (leading to a period of pleasant but bland and boring music), or anything between the extremes of that spectrum.

Then if you have the motivation and some talent you will gradually become a more and more amazing musician both composition- and production-wise, simply due to gaining experience. You'll usually know what aspects of your music need more work as you go, if not then ask around for advice.

Personally, I learnt to compose first and for the first 4-5 years I had no idea what music production is. It got to a point where I could see potential in the music I wrote but people weren't noticing it because they couldn't get past the bad production (I was using Guitar Pro 6's sound banks at the time hahahaha).

Because of that I took a year out of almost all social interaction and obsessively learnt to produce music. Yes, literally cut myself off from the outside world to work on music for 6-10 hours a day. I was studying via correspondence at the time so I could get away with it. Of course I don't advise this for everyone, I suffered from it in other ways too. ^^

Rocker, Composer and World Ambassador for Foxes! I'm on Youtube. Veteran REAPER user. Click below for the song that got me 2nd place. :)

There is a lot of things related to music that can help you improve the quality of your music. Of course, many have been listed already. Practice and experimentation are my personal two highest rated. Also upon my experience when playing melodies in your tracks, the proper use of musical scales are almost a must. It keeps your melodies stay in key, and every scale has a unique sound which gives your song a unique feel. However, not understanding that can ruin your song, even if you think it's good, it can sound off to others.

But, a good point that I used when I first started out, get your constant sounds laid out first. Drums, Bass, etc. Once that's finished work on adding melodies, using strings or synths. Alter your constants to create a decent flow. Add accents to the mix, like a short drum roll, or a bell melody, something to spice it up or give it flare. Play around with sound effects, compression, distortion, reverb, chorus, etc. Nearing the finish when you feel you are happy with how it sounds use a mixer to alter and tweak volume levels.

A song with too much of one thing can also ruin itself. The first song I posted here was like that while I was making it. I had some bells that when they played made your eyes shut cause it was overwhelming, but when you tone down some of the volume and then raise others, it really brings out some great sound.

And, now that I'm done with ranting (or almost mindless typing by now) I hope this can help a bit.

Ja Ne

If you don't evolve, you'll be devoured by those that do.
Feel free to leave feedback, I shall return the favor.
K3

The topic wasn't about improving French language skills or opinions about 9gag.
So, my 2 cents:
1 - Learn music theory and try to apply it in your projects. Don't be afraid to take small steps, those are normal :)
2 - Each DAW (music making program) has some demo files, open, analyze and try to reverse engineer some songs in terms of structure, instruments and effects.
3 - Find some online free resources for learning, like recordbetteraudio.com, audio tutsplus.com (they have some free tutorials), primeloops.com/blog or PensadosPlace.
4 - Try to collaborate online or offline with better musicians than yourself, be open to all styles and genres, you may find new tricks and techniques that you can use in a different context.

everyone, again thanks for all those helpful reviews, i will take all the tips, advices and tricks, to get my music even better than ever, even if it will be in small steps, i WILL become better
so to all who responded to this topic, Thanks!!!!! :D

At 10/5/12 12:35 PM, MetalRenard wrote:
I could see potential in the music I wrote but people weren't noticing it because they couldn't get past the bad production (I was using Guitar Pro 6's sound banks at the time hahahaha).

Man, that's exactly what I used to do before I started to get into production. Spent about 2 years of my life on that program... loved every second of it.